iTeachers and students need iMuseums

Great article on page 3 of the Brisbane Courier Mail, Saturday 6th June, about 21st century students having different needs. They quote Prof Nairn, Exective director of the Australian Secondary Principals Association. ‘If students don’t learn the way we teach, we have got to teach the way they learn.’

It seems iTeachers are tech savvy, drawing on students skills and curiosity. He says, ‘It’s about how do we stimulate that conversation so we are providing that stimulus and facilitate that collision of ideas so the kids do the learning you want.’

These times are great opportunities for museums to provoke those stimulating ideas. And, if students bring along their own devices, with a well structured education program, even small museums can be ‘iMuseums’. Tablet devices enable student to give voice to their own ideas and perceptions about what they are seeing. The beauty for the museums is that it’s the students that add the technology – they add the ‘i’ to the museum.

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Janis Hanley creates education programs for museums. She has a strong interest in digital engagement. Her programs have received several Queensland National Trust awards. Janis is the Queensland representative of the Museums Australia Education committee, and founder/coordinator of MAEdQ - a Queensland Network for Museum Educators . Janis is currently researching the value of digital story telling in community museums.